Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Tone 7; the Holy Grand Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr), Equal-to-the-Apostles, Named Basil at Holy Baptism (1015); Holy Martyrs Cyricus and Julitta, His Mother
Read
1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Galatians 1:11-19
Matthew 14:14-22; John 10:1-8
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
I remember when I was about ten years younger I volunteered to live the life of a Madonna House Apostolate member at a community in Combermere, Ontario. I was welcomed to come and spend a week living the way these laymen, laywoman, and priests do, a life which included working at St. Benedict’s Acres, a farm which provided food for the community. This was a novel experience for the big city slicker I happened to be, and after a day of throwing around hay bales, chopping wood, weeding and thinning carrots, I returned to the main house for supper tired but satisfied. This feeling lasted until I heard the announcement at supper that the entire community would be heading out that evening to thin carrots at the farm for another two hours! Now that was encroaching on MY TIME! I know that I did not return to the farm with a peaceful and generous heart that evening.
Contrast our Lord’s response to the needs of the people in this Sunday’s Gospel. Christ had just heard of the death of John the Baptist, His cousin and fellow minister, and decided to depart to a lonely place to grieve. A huge mob of people follow Him to beg Him to heal them. At this most difficult time, we read that Christ does not send them away, but instead He is moved with compassion for them! The grief and sadness He feels motivate Him not to focus on Himself but to minister to others.
When His disciples notice that the crowds will soon be hungry from following Christ over the course of the day, they ask the Lord to send them away to find something to eat. Jesus responds with the most puzzling of statements- YOU give them something to eat (the YOU is emphatic in the Greek). Imagine the disciple’s reaction to what their Lord is asking them, how could they possibly get enough food? And yet, in giving the little that they do have to the Lord and receiving His blessing, the disciples are able to feed over 5000 people!
You might think the little gift you can offer the Lord is insufficient, and you would be right! But God can take your gift and through His grace use it in the Restoration of the world. He takes the committed love of a husband and wife and gifts them with a child, He takes the simple bread and wine we offer Him and gives us back His Body and Blood. What can he do with a generous heart willing to thin carrots for His glory? Do not be discouraged by your inability to give great gifts to God, but respond with compassion and be faithful in small things. In so doing you will cooperate with God in the Restoring of His world!